Ups and Downs of the Week.

Red Sox – They won tonight, but lost every other night this week.

Carroll Shelby dies – Great driver and automotive designer. His Shelby Cobra still stands as one of the great classic roadsters.

I stopped by to see how the corn was progressing. It’s coming up nicely, although you can see a few areas where the heavy rain collected and stifled some growth.

While I was there shooting pics Jeff showed up with his new toy. This amazing looking machine is used to spray the crops. Here he was getting ready to spray herbicide to kill weeds and unwanted plants.

Ups and Downs of the Week.

Rokinon 35mm f1.4 Lens – Loving this thing. Very sharp lens.

Red Sox – Back to their losing ways. Right now they’re locked in an epic battle of mediocrity with the Baltimore Orioles. They can’t buy a run, it seems.

This week I traded 35mm lenses with a super-talented photographer and filmmaker named Mark Linsangan. I sent Mark my Canon 35mm f2 auto-focus lens and he sent me his Rokinon 35mm f1.4 manual focus lens. I hope he is as happy with his new lens as I am with mine. You can check out some of Mark’s photos here and his videos here. Thanks, Mark!

UPDATE: He’s taking great shots with it already.

I had some fun today with the lens. This shot was in a field of mustard (I believe) that was so yellow in the bright sun that it was blinding.

And an early rising moon.

I also stopped by my project cornfield. More on that later. But here’s a rat’s eye view of the corn also shot with the Roki 35. It’s beginning to look like a corn stalk.

Every year about this time there is a day when I look out at the woods behind the house and think, “Wow, that’s really green.” It’s usually right after a rainy spell like we’ve been having the past few days. Well today was the day. All the leaves are out in their full glory. The green is overwhelming.

Ups and Downs of the Week

Red Sox – The road trip against weaker teams is resulting in some wins. We’ll see how long that lasts once they get back to playing ALE teams.

Bruins – Out of the playoffs and done for the year, but a good season nonetheless.

Ups and Downs of the Week

Mom – Mom’s birthday was Wednesday. She’s doing quite well. We had a good time last weekend while I was there. I need to do that more often. Love you, Mom.

New Tripod – The new tripod worked like a charm on my trip to MA last week. So easy to set up and use. Should have bought one ages ago.

Red Sox – I didn’t expect a great season, but this is pathetic.

My cornfield project is progressing. The corn has just started coming up.

This is a *really* big field. This panorama shows how wide and deep this field is. I need to check with Jeff (the farmer) to see how many acres it is.

This technique involves using a filter (or in this case, filters) to slow exposure times enough to blur motion while leaving non-moving objects sharp. In brightly lit situations you cannot have shutter speeds in the 20-40 second range without way overexposing the image. But if you can “drip feed” the incoming light to the sensor by shooting through very dark glass, you can slow the shutter speed to 30 seconds or more. This can make waves or other water movement look silky. It can also make crowded areas seem empty of people or vehicles as long as those things are moving fast enough to not register on the sensor. Here are some examples of Black Glass photography on ocean waves. These were taken during the sunrise and sunset shoots from yesterday. I used three stacked filters with a total of 11-stops of darkening. Each stop reduces the incoming light by half, so these 30 second shots would have been taken at 1/60th of a second without the filters. At that speed, the water would have shown all the detail of the waves and current instead of looking silky.

Ups and Downs of the Week

Friends – My best friend Dana turned 60 today, which is one reason why I’m out in MA for the weekend. Dana and I have known each other for 30 years. Looking forward to the party later. Happy Birthday, pal.

Mom – Mom turns 81 later this week. That’s the second reason I’m out in MA. I can’t be here for her birthday, but we can celebrate early with some dinners out. Love you, Mom.

Red Sox – They’re looking a bit better at home than they did on the road.

First Class – I got a chance for a cheap(ish) upgrade on my flight from Chicago to Boston yesterday and flew out First Class. If I could do that all the time, I’d enjoy traveling much more. Very comfy.

Seafood – Mom and I went out for seafood last night. I had a humongous (too big, really) fisherman’s platter with clams, scallops, and haddock. Delicious. I miss good seafood.